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“Look, I think there have been more than a few Democrats who were throwing rocks in my direction. To quote the bard, ‘methinks she doth protest too much.’ They are throwing every insult they can,” Cruz (R-Texas) said.

Kelly, citing a poll from POLITICO on the Virginia governor’s race that surveyed likely Virginia voters that showed Cruz is viewed unfavorably by 45 percent of poll respondents and favorably by 26 percent of respondents, pushed Cruz on his own favorability ratings and whether he is “costing yourself and the GOP.”

“Well, I haven’t seen the particular poll you are referencing, but I can tell you at the end of the day it doesn’t matter,” Cruz said.

He continued: “Look, what the Democrats are trying to do is make this a battle of personalities, they have engaged in relentless, nasty personal attacks. You just played several of them. I don’t intend to defend myself. I don’t intend to reciprocate.”

Kelly also asked Cruz to respond to Obama’s interview Friday in which the president said that as a senator, “…I didn’t go around courting the media and I certainly didn’t go around trying to shut down the government.”

Cruz swiped back, saying the president has been “AWOL.”

“Well, you know, I think it’s pretty remarkable that the president feels the need to run out of his way the to attack senators in the other party. And let me say, you know, I wish he hadn’t been following his own advice in the last month. The president has kept such a low profile, he has been AWOL,” Cruz said.